Federal prosecutors have filed additional criminal charges in the Francis Scott Key Bridge disaster, naming for the first time a crew member who was aboard the Dali container ship at the time of the crash.
However, the crew member and the federal government have agreed to defer his prosecution. That means his case will be put on pause, at least for the time being. If he adheres to certain terms from the government, which are not yet known, he could avoid a criminal conviction.
After investigating for more than two years, federal authorities first unsealed criminal charges on May 12 against the ship’s operator and one employee, a shoreside superintendent. They were accused of conspiracy, obstruction and misconduct resulting in death related to the March 2024 disaster.
Now the ship’s chief engineer, Karthikeyan Deenadayalan, has been charged with violations of the Port and Waterways Safety Act. They say he “knowingly and willfully” failed to notify the U.S. Coast Guard about hazardous conditions — specifically, the inappropriate use of pumps hooked up to generators — aboard the Dali in the days before the collapse.
In an accompanying filing, prosecutors wrote that they had entered into a “deferred prosecution agreement” with Deenadayalan. Prosecutors asked that a public hearing be set “at the earliest available opportunity.”
Gregg Bernstein, Deenadayalan’s attorney, declined to comment.
Deenadayalan is among the several Dali crew members who have remained in Baltimore since the collapse pursuant to an agreement between their employer, Synergy Marine, and the U.S. Coast Guard.
Chief engineers are among the highest-ranking and highest-paid officers of a cargo ship. Deenadayalan, 46, studied engineering in southern India, had worked as an engineer for nearly two decades, and earns about $10,000 a month.
The U.S. Department of Justice has said the tragedy, which resulted in the death of six construction workers, could have been averted has Synergy Marine responsibly maintained the ship’s generators. Instead, prosecutors said the company improperly used what are known as flushing pumps.
Synergy connected those pumps to generators — a dangerous practice that can cause blackouts — on at least three vessels since 2020 and later “provided false documents and false statements” to investigators, according to the May indictment.
Prosecutors said Synergy sought to maximize its profits and “concealed safety information” from regulators to ensure its vessels could do business in U.S. ports.
Synergy disputed the allegations and said at the time of the indictments that federal authorities ignored “clear and well-documented findings” that the Dali crew did nothing wrong.
“We are confident that the DOJ cannot and will not meet its burden of proof and that we will prevail at trial,” Synergy spokesperson Darrell Wilson said last month. The company has said that Maryland should have better reinforced the bridge — a conclusion also reached by the National Transportation Safety Board.
The previous employee charged, Radhakrishnan Karthik Nair, is accused of removing references to a flushing pump from ship documents. Maryland U.S. Attorney Kelly Hayes said authorities believe Nair is in India and that they would use all “available law enforcement tools” to take him into custody, although some experts have cautioned doing so could be difficult.
Every member of the ship crew as well as others invoked their Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination during proceedings in the civil case.
Ahead of a status conference scheduled for Tuesday, prosecutors said in unrelated court filings Monday that they want an October 2027 trial date and are seeking to serve witnesses with trial subpoenas.
Although Deenadayalan is the first Dali crew member charged with a crime as part of the collapse, several seafarers have been stuck in a sort of limbo since 2024. They hadn’t faced criminal charges, but they couldn’t exactly leave, either.
Of the 21 crew members aboard the Dali, most went home to India and Sri Lanka in the months after the tragedy, but senior officers have remained stateside since March 2024.
The shipping companies and the Coast Guard entered into an agreement on June 18, 2024, that essentially prevented the seafarers from leaving the Baltimore area indefinitely.
As part of the deal, crew members received their salary, lodging in extended-stay hotels, and at least $48 a day for food and incidentals. And although the agreement does not, technically speaking, bar the sailors from leaving town, they are required to surrender their passports to an agent of Synergy. If they seek the return of their passport, Synergy is required to notify the Coast Guard.
Attorneys for Deenadayalan wrote last year that the engineer was stuck 8,000 miles from home, “marooned in Baltimore.”
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